


A Desert Island

by Kaatosade



Category: One Piece
Genre: Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2016-11-06
Packaged: 2018-05-16 04:26:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5814043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaatosade/pseuds/Kaatosade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luffy watched around for a while and made a surprised noise. "Are we on a desert island? Cool! How did we end up here?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is so far the longest of my stories I have tried to translate, and I'm a bit anxious about how it will go. There is not enough of this pairing in the world, so I wish to add some anyway. : )

It started with a sandwich.

Law's unexpected outburst about hating bread had given Nami a very bad feeling. There was nothing else to eat, but luckily Law didn't seem to have much appetite anyway. He was just silently sitting by the table, nursing his glass of water. It didn't look like he was going to start any trouble.

Unfortunately, when it came to starting trouble, you could always count on Luffy.

Luffy locked his gaze on Law over the table, a half-eaten sandwich in each of his hands. "Why not eating, Traffy?"

"It's not any of your business, but I don't actually like bread."

Nami wished her internal barometer would lie sometimes, but it didn't. Right now it told her that there was a storm on its way, and that they were all dead.

"You should give it a try, Sanji's food is the best." Luffy looked like someone had insulted him personally. Whenever Luffy got that look, someone got their ass kicked. Every single time.

Usopp opted to hide under the table, and Chopper soon joined him. A quiet 'clink' was heard, when Zoro grabbed one of his katanas and started to unsheathe it.

Law's eyes narrowed under the bill of his hat. "Your cook might be good, but bread is always bread."

"No," Luffy said. "No one insults my cook while aboard my own ship."

"I'm not –"

Law's objection was cut short by Luffy stretching his arm over the table and pushing a half-eaten sandwich into Law's mouth.

"Tasty, isn't it?" Luffy asked.

Law grabbed Luffy's wrist. A harsh pull sent Luffy flying over the table and crashing into the cupboard. If the cracking noise was any indication, the impact had broken several plates, which made Sanji livid. After that, pure chaos ensued.

Before Law even had time to spit the sandwich out of his mouth, Luffy dragged him off his seat. Sanji tried to kick Luffy, who evaded by bowing down, the movement so easy that it seemed unintentional. The kick hit the table, sending it flying over their heads and descending towards Robin. Soon the table was cut in two by Zoro, the pieces flying past Robin without touching her.

Luffy and Law were now rolling on the floor like two brawling brats. This kind of behavior was nothing new for Luffy, but it was pretty shocking to see Law sinking to the same level and trying to force the poor sandwich down Luffy's throat. Because both of Law's hands were restrained, he did it by nodding his head towards Luffy's face and aiming for his mouth with the sandwich.

It was about to become something not so far from a kiss, but before it got to the critical point Franky decided to calm the pair down by dumping a bucketful of seawater on them.

Law seemed extremely humiliated when he came to realize what exactly he was doing. He muttered something about dry clothes, striding out of the kitchen. No one dared to even think about preventing him from leaving.

Nami hit Luffy with her fist, just becauce he was an idiot. "What the heck are you trying to do?"

"Was pissed off."

Several crewmembers facepalmed. Luffy marched out of the kitchen, and if he didn't go to sit on the figurehead to watch the sea and mope, Nami didn't know him at all.

"Just _what_ exactly is their problem?" Usopp asked, when the door had slammed shut after Luffy. "Sure as hell doesn't have anything to do with sandwiches."

"They shouldn't have allied, if they don't like each other," Chopper said.

Nami gave a sigh. How was it possible for anyone to be _that_ naive? If only it had been as simple as the captains not liking each other. Had that been the case, they could just undo this damn alliance and part ways with Law.

Sanji lit a cigarette, inhaling deeply before speaking. "It's the opposite."

"Eh? Why would they fight, if they're friends?" Chopper wondered.

"Not 'friends'," Sanji said. "That is..."

"– tension," Robin finished.

"Tension? _Luffy?_ " Usopp's eyes seemed to be bulging from his head. "You do understand that we're talking about _Luffy_ –"

"That is one hundred percent unresolved sexual tension," Franky said. " _Super_ tense."

"Nobody behaves quite that stupidly, if –" Usopp continued.

"It's not so simple," said Brook.

"But they're both males," Usopp said, weakly.

"So what?" Franky asked.

"That's not the problem," Nami added. Someone needed to steer the conversation to something constructive, not to waste time to bemoan the situation. If the last few days were any indication, the pointless tussling would continue immediately when the opportunity presented itself; and each confrontation was even stupider and more serious than the previous ones. "The problem is, they're not going to talk about it. And because they're not talking, they're fighting."

"We do have a pair of seastone cuffs, right?" Sanji asked. "Let's restrain them with those, and they'll calm down immediately and –"

"No," Robin said. "Only someone who doesn't have a Devil's Fruit could make that suggestion, not knowing how terrible it is. That's not something a crew should do to their captain."

"Even if he's an idiot," Zoro said.

"I'm so sorry, Robin-chwan, your divine beauty has captured me so completely that I have no idea what I'm talking about. Please be so kind and slap me!" Sanji's arms were flailing ridiculously while a couple of heart-shaped smoke rings were erupting from him.

Nami gave a heavy sigh. Sanji was bad enough, now there definitely were too many enamored idiots aboard.

She wasn't so sure about Law; she barely knew him and he was really hard to read. But Law seemed to be a pretty composed and temperate person. If Luffy managed to provoke such a childish reaction with something as stupid as a sandwich, there had to be a lot going on beneath the surface. It couldn't be hate, because Law wouldn't have proposed an alliance to someone he wasn't able to tolerate.

"What are we going to do?" Nami asked. "At this rate we're going to shipwreck soon, and I'm far too young and cute to be eaten by Sea Kings."

"I will protect you, Nami-swan!" Sanji yelled, but nobody was listening.

"Let them fight," Zoro suggested. "They'll be feeling better after kicking each other's ass."

Idiot-logic. But there was a possibility that the suggestion would do the trick, because Luffy also was an idiot and thus followed idiot-logic. Zoro might be the only one of them who had any inkling of Luffy's strange ways of thinking.

"Both of them are mad strong monsters!" Usopp said. "If they'll seriously clash aboard the ship –"

"We'll sink!" Chopper panicked, tears in his eyes.

"Who said anything about fighting aboard the ship?" Zoro asked.

Nami hurried to fetch her maps. Soon they were all hunched to look at them, plotting to their hearts' content.


	2. The First Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the first actual chapter. I hope you think it's more fun than Law does. :D

Law was extremely alert when he woke up. There was a feeling of so many things being wrong that it took him a moment to figure all of them out.

The first thing was his dream, in which he had been cheerfully jumping around a huge field of sunflowers. Luffy had been there, too, his red shirt contrasting with the sea of yellow flowers so brightly it made Law's eyes hurt. The sky had been so blue, like it was painted. They had been holding hands while spinning around, both of them laughing. It had been so sweet, like some fucking fairy tale.

Law didn't have dreams like that. _Ever._ There was something seriously wrong with it.

The second thing was that he was not swaying. A ship was never this still, not even when it was calm. It meant he was ashore. There was also something seriously wrong with that, because he didn't remember going ashore.

The third thing; someone was snoring right beside him. He opened his eyes, seeing something like color of straws, it was too close to clearly make out what it was. Having flinched further from the thing Law came to realize it was a straw hat. So unsurprising it was anticlimatic.

Luffy was sleeping soundly, his hat covering all of his face, his shirt open, limbs spread out. Law had been resting his head on Luffy's shoulder while sleeping, and jumped up like he'd been electrocuted.

Law resisted the absurd urge to lift the brim of the straw hat and look at Luffy's stupidly calm sleeping face. Instead, he looked around him while turning a full circle.

He spat out a litany of colourful curses.

They were in the middle of an island so small that it was easy to see a shore in every direction. The island was practically just a pile of rocks, with a hill and a few fruit trees in the middle of it. There was no one else, that much was sure. Not even the Straw Hat ship was anywhere to be seen.

He and Luffy had been stranded on this desert island, for a reason he didn't even dare to guess. It was almost an impressive feat in itself, he was such a light sleeper – how had it been possible for someone to move him without waking him up?

Sleeping pills in the late night snack? Nope... it didn't feel like he was experiencing the aftereffects of any kind of medicine. He hadn't been knocked out, either, because he didn't have a headache, so what the –

A sudden flashback of that skeleton, raising his violin and saying something about a soothing lullaby. Law's limbs had grown heavy with overwhelming lassitude, and he didn't remember anything else after that. Only his disturbing dream.

So, it had been something a bit like hypnotism. Law wasn't prone to falling victim for that kind of tricks, but this one had been skillful and he hadn't been expecting it, and so... He was on the island with Luffy.

_Why?_

It seemed like he would have a lot of time to ponder that question. But first things first, it was essential to investigate the whole island and equip themselves to make sure they would survive. Surviving was a requirement for pondering.

Having looked around a bit more carefully, Law noticed a couple of bundles under the nearest fruit tree. His sword was neatly leaning on the trunk. Seeing Kikoku made him feel a lot better, along with the fact that one of the bundles held all of his meager luggage.

If Luffy hadn't been lying here fast asleep, Law would have thought the Straw Hats had had enough of the alliance and just thrown him out of their ship. But they wouldn't have abandoned their own captain just like that, so this was something else.

The next bundle held some miscellanous little things and a baby snailphone, sleeping on a note. Law moved the thing aside to read the note.

 

_"Give us a call after you have sorted out your issues, and we'll come to get you._

_Don't you even dare to THINK about calling before that."_

 

There wasn't any signature in the note, but the handwriting was very neat and angry, making Law think of Nami.

So... The Thousand Sunny was sailing somewhere near the island, possibly going around it, and they would be picked up after Law had 'sorted out his issues' with Luffy. What kind of issues did they supposedly have to sort out?

He had a sudden and humiliating flashback about the Great Sandwich Fight; their legs were twined together while they were rolling on the floor, Luffy's fingers were stretching in an unfair manner, keeping Law's wrists imprisoned, and so Law had attacked with the sandwich –

He groaned and facepalmed. Fine, they _did_ have issues to sort out. It was also easy to understand why doing it aboard the ship was not a preferable option.

Law got a grip of himself and continued to go through the bundles. The next one had a small note attached to it, and it read _'Traffy's supply – bon appétit'_. That piece of paper gave him a very bad feeling and a peek into the bundle revealed the bastard cook really remembering how much he hated bread. The fucking bundle was full of sandwiches. Apparently Sanji had been insulted by Law not eating his sandwiches yesterday.

Apparently Sanji also was tired of his life and had a death wish. Law would be very happy to oblige him, after getting away from this fucking island.

Or maybe Law would make use of his ability, cut off the cook's dick and reattach it to his forehead. That way Sanji could literally be a dickhead. It would be amusing to see him try to hide his boners every time he saw a goodlooking pair of breasts.

The mental image made Law smirk while continuing his digging around. Another bundle of food was about ten times bigger than the one addressed to him, which made sense considering Luffy's appetite. Sandwiches and some meat. Law also found Luffy's change of clothes.

Chopper had equipped them with copious amounts of bandages and medicine, as if thinking they would have a big fight. According to Law's own calculations, the probability of a big fight was about one hundred percent, possibly even more than that.

They had been left with a blanket. _One_ blanket. That observation filled Law's mind with particularly dirty thoughts.

Luffy was still sleeping, his bare, toned chest rising and falling with deep breathing.

Law shook his head, swinging Kikoku onto his shoulder and walking to the shore. It was probably wise to go around the whole island and see everything there was to it.

~*~

If someone made a list of the most boring places in the world, this island should be the first item in it. Law walked around it once, finding no animals except a couple of birds hopping in the fruit trees and some shellfish on the shore. The trees bore fruits which were not poisonous despite their gross blue coloring; they tasted kind of like a mixture of bananas and pears, their sticky sweetness actually pretty disgusting. There was also a small spring with drinkable water; it was chilling, making Law not to look forward to washing himself.

It was hard to believe that such a _normal_ island even existed anywhere in the New World. It probably didn't even have a magnetic field. There were no ravines to fall into, no dormant volcanos, no geysirs spitting out boiling water, no metallic stones giving off inexplicable surges of electricity, or any other kind of surprising natural phenomenons. No monsters, either.

No other monsters than Law himself, and the one still snoring away with his hat covering his face.

Law made another round on the island just because he didn't feel like stopping. Moving his feet didn't clear his mind a bit, not even when he did the third round. What even was the point of thinking? Actually there _was_ no point in trying that before Luffy had awoken. If there was one thing Law had learnt about his ally, it was that Luffy made a habit of crushing even the most carefully crafted plans in a second, and to top it off, laugh while doing it. So, planning was not worth it. The only way to go about this was improvisation.

Law improvised by kicking Luffy's flank.

"Ow!" Luffy bolted to sit upright, pushing his hat upwards in order to see something. "The hell is your problem!?"

Law would have loved to know that himself. He just had insurmountable problems in controlling his thoughts whenever he was near Luffy, they ran away because of the smallest reasons. Even he himself wasn't aware what he wanted, anymore. Maybe the most urgent emotion was extreme frustration because of many reasons, about to explode at any minute.

He hid it as well as he could, keeping his voice calm. " _Our_ problem is that your crew saw fit to abandon us onto this desert island, while we were sleeping."

Luffy watched around for a while and made a surprised noise. "Are we on a desert island? Cool! How did we end up here?"

 _Here_ was that frustration once again – Law wanted to strangle Luffy just because he didn't understand how anyone could be that slow. He didn't understand how he'd be able to work with such an unpredictable, unbelievably naive idiot. He didn't understand why it irked him so unreasonably much, but it felt like his brain was boiling and his fingers itching, and the most intolerable thing was Luffy having absolutely no idea of doing this to him. Luffy was just sitting there, wondering, and if he really needed to wear that blasted shirt unbuttoned all the time and show off that bare chest, why wasn't Law allowed to _touch_ it?

Law realized he needed a fuck. It had been too long since he'd gotten laid, but he would pick someone up in the next port, immediately.

Too bad that such an excellent plan wasn't even a bit helpful right now.

"You should listen to people. I already told that we've been dumped here while sleeping," he said.

"Why would they do that?"

Law dug out the note probably-Nami had written and gave it to Luffy. It was silent for a long time and he had to resist the urge to stride around restlessly, slicing things with his sword. Preferably 'things' like Luffy. Instead, he was leaning against a tree trunk, trying to seem relaxed even though he felt like a too tightly wound spring.

"What issues?" Luffy asked.

The back of Law's head connected with the trunk a few times pretty painfully when he tried to knock some sense into his head. "If I knew that, there wouldn't be anything to sort out, right?"

"Hmm, makes sense. Food?"

"Yeah. Your cook gave us supply, but I'm not so sure how long it'll last." The moment Law remembered the 'supply' he had been given, with that sweet note, he started to feel downright murderous.

Luffy bolted to dig around the bundles. Apparently, according to his logic, it was best to start with someone else's supply and save his own for later, for he snatched _'Traffy's supply'_ with his stretchy arms, read Sanji's note, stared at the pile of sandwiches, and reread the note.

Then he burst into a boisterous laughter, which didn't seem like it was going to end anytime soon. He was rolling on the ground, clutching his stomach and trying to speak between fitful howling. "This is so... Sanji... fu-funny..."

"It definitely isn't."

Luffy swept tears of laughter from his eyes, glancing at Law, and succumbing to even wilder bout of hysterical laughing, pointing at Law with his finger. "You should see your face!"

"Stop laughing right now, Straw Hat. If you don't wish to be dismembered."

"Nope. I laugh whenever I feel like it." The declaration was followed by Luffy stretching his cheeks and sticking his tongue out, making face in an unbelievably childish manner.

Law could feel something snapping in his head. In a second he had stepped next to Luffy and pointed the sheathed sword at him. "It's inevitable that we try to kill each other at some point – why not start right now?"

Fits of giggling stopped abruptly and Luffy regarded Law, completely serious. "You want to fight?"

Yes, oh _yes_. More than Law had even realized, he was left dumbfounded because of his enthusiasm, trying to rein it in for a while, but it was pointless. After all, this was a completely sensible action in their situation and they couldn't avoid it anyway. If he wanted to use his brain, it would serve him to first rid himself of even a fraction of this restless, intolerable tension. "Yes. I want to fight."

"Great. Me too." Luffy was cracking his knuckles.

The confrontation started with a long quiet moment, during which they were just standing and facing each other, watching. Law couldn't help but wonder how it was possible for Luffy to be so intimidating at moments like this. It was like Luffy was a totally different person.

Law remembered his first time seeing Luffy, in that repulsive auction house. After Luffy had crashed into the hall, Law's first impression hadn't been very flattering even though it had provoked mild curiosity. The thing Law would never forget was how Straw Hat changed after that fishman had been shot.

His glare and furiously determined seriousness had given chills even for bystanders. Law had revisited that memory a few times while jerking off.

... More often than he cared to admit.

Luffy didn't seem to be angry now, nor was he glaring, but the eyes under the brim of his hat were full of determination. They were saying that he'd be happy to oblige, if someone so desperately wanted an ass-kicking.

"Are you sure?" Law asked, nonetheless. "I'm under impression that you don't like to thrash anyone who isn't an enemy."

"Are you so weak that you're scared of being thrashed?"

"No!"

"Come on then." Luffy made an inviting gesture.

"So it's fine with you if I take your heart?"

"You can try. Sourpuss."

... _What?_

"What?" Law asked aloud. He'd been waiting for something else entirely, even though Luffy made a habit of calling people with weird names during fights. _Sourpuss?_ "What are you –"

Suddenly Luffy's face and hand were right in front of Law, while his feet remained in place. It might be that Law would never get used to that sight and bizarre ability; not that his own ability wasn't weird. Luffy had the gall to grab the corner of Law's mouth and forcefully twist it upwards.

"Yeah, Sourpuss. You have so nice smile but you never show it. For some reason it pisses me off!"

If this was an intentional tactic, it was unexpectedly effective. Law was so surprised he was frozen; at that moment Luffy would have gotten in any punch he saw fit to deliver. They were staring at each other's eyes until they were forced to blink, Law finally awakening to push Luffy away.

It was time to start. He activated his Room, unsheathing Kikoku at the same moment as Luffy's fist lunged towards his chest.

~*~

The sky was so blindingly bright that keeping his eyes open hurt. Or his _eye_ , for Law wasn't able of opening the other one of them, suspecting it was puffed up too badly. Right now he could relate to how a steak felt after being tenderized.

Having shut his eye, his breathing and the beating of his heart started sounding so loud that they were filling the whole world. Equally heavy breathing could be heard from some distance away.

"Straw Hat... are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, somehow."

"I guess it was a draw?" They had rendered each other incapable of continuing the fight at the same moment – it sounded like a draw to him. It also seemed like they didn't actually have any desire to kill each other. It would have been possible for them to inflict much worse damage, had they chosen to do so. This had been more like easy sparring. Or foreplay.

 _Why_ was Law thinking about that?

"There is no such a thing as a draw in a fight, it's not over yet," Luffy said.

"Let's call it the first round, then." Honestly, Law was hoping that the second one wouldn't follow too soon. The confrontation might have been pretty lighthearted, at least when speaking of them, but Luffy's last punch had still been brutal and Law's ribs were complaining with each breath.

The psychological effect of the fight had definitely been positive, making Law able to actually feel connection to his brain once again, which was more than welcome. He might even be up to some thinking and sorting out issues, after the damage had been taken care of.

The thought of taking care of the damage wasn't an appealing one.

"Hey, put me back together already!" Luffy said.

Law probably should do just that, but moving a muscle felt like an impossible endeavor, it was like he'd been crushed with a warship fallen from the sky. Furthermore, Luffy's tone had sounded more like an order than a plea, and Law didn't take kindly to being ordered around.

"Traffy! I mean it, the Hat's being blown away and I can't reach it."

There was a gust of wind, making the still standing fruit trees rustle, so Law forced his eye open once again. Just in time to see how the wind was driving a straw hat with a red ribbon along the ground, and would soon blow it away. He activated his Room and pulled the hat to him before it was too far away. "Got it."

"Thanks!"

Having started to move already, it felt natural to prop himself up with his elbow. He spat a bit of blood, turning to look at the battleground. Its condition was a proof that this kind of stress relief was strictly out of question aboard the ship, unless they wanted to drown. There were boulders larger than a man, crumbled into gravel or cleanly cut with a sword. Luffy had accidentally swiped half of the trees to the ground with his stretched out leg, and the ground itself had cracks in it.

"Your ability's really cool and stuff, but it's boring not being able to move..."

Law sighed, watching Luffy's head, attached to one of the boulders. All of his limbs were severed as well and attached to the same boulder in angles that made Law pretty proud of himself – he could be artistic, if he happened to feel like it. The whole thing gave off an impression of an abstract coat rack.

"Now, let me go, or you wanna fight some more?" At least Luffy wanted to, going by his expression. Being out of any other means to attack, he seemed to be ready to bite.

"And how do you think you would fight, if I _won't_ put you back together? It looks like you're kind of stuck, Straw Hat."

"I always come up with something if I have to kick someone's ass."

Actually... that was something Law believed, having already seen enough of Luffy's willpower. He gathered his own, scrambling on his feet. He was forced to use his sword as a crutch while heading to Luffy.

"Now shut up and let me concentrate." He slammed the hat on Luffy's head.

The circle appeared around him and he started to reorganize the pieces. It had been a long since the body parts flying and spinning in the air had fazed him in any way, but it was a new experience to hear his victim squeal in surprise and obvious joy while being spun around in ten pieces. Did Luffy think he was in some kind of a fucking amusement park?

How was Law ever going to be able to _sensibly_ cooperate with that dimwit!?

Shit. He was starting to get annoyed again.

It may be that he kind of spinned Luffy's head around about a hundred more times than what was necessary, just because the vein in his temple was throbbing again. After being put back together Luffy tried to walk straight, but his feet lead him to the side in a wobbly arc, making him crash onto his stomach with his eyes spinning. For Law it was a pretty satisfactory thing to see.

"I am standing and you're not," Law said. "It looks like I won after all."

"You... just wait..."

He didn't see a reason to wait. He needed to take care of his bruises as soon as possible, so he just left Luffy to lay there and clear his head. Now, with Luffy in one piece again, Law had to admit being the one in worse shape, so of course he needed to tend himself first. Come to think of it, why would he take care of Luffy at all? The fucking rubberball was completely fine, and annoyingly chipper.

A few minutes later he had fetched the bundle with which Chopper had equipped them, and was kneeling beside Luffy, starting to immediately clean Luffy's wounds. There were only a few of them, scratches made by hits with sharp shards of rock. Ordinary band-aid was enough to cover them.

"Try not to stretch for a while, so as not to tear these off," he said, having put the last band-aid on Luffy's calf.

Luffy had recovered from spinning, managing to focus his gaze on Law. "Whoa, that eye looks really bad. Shouldn't you be taking care of yourself and not me, Traffy?"

"I am a doctor." This was what doctors did – taking care of injured people. "And do not call me that, Straw Hat. My given name is Law."

"Okay. Sourpuss, then."

Law couldn't find any answer for that one, Luffy just was... too much. "Just do not stretch, got it?"

"I'm completely fine so patch yourself up, sourpuss."

Kicking himself in the head would have felt more appropriate, just because he had gotten himself into this mess. What in the world had made him speak aloud those ill-fated words of forming the alliance? Had he been so delighted because of the surprising reunion that he'd gone crazy? Sometimes it certainly felt like that.

Things would have taken a completely different turn without that move. Probably worse... but had that been the case, at least Law wouldn't have found himself on a desert island with a problem of not actually wanting to take his shirt off right here.

It definitely would look strange if he were to walk further away; he wasn't in any condition to do any unnecessary exercise and there were no one else but the two of them. They were of the same gender – which actually _was_ a bit suspicious if you happened to appreciate both genders, a fact Law was not inclined to tell Luffy – and aboard a small ship there was no way to avoid seeing bodies anyway, whether you wanted or not. He didn't even have a problem with walking around with his shirt open on islands with a climate warm enough for that kind of clothing. So, taking the shirt off now should have been natural.

There was only one problem. Luffy was watching him curiously and that look made him experience things with a dangerous resemblance to growing sexual interest. That was the last thing he needed to complicate matters.

To be honest, it had existed all the time, despite his best efforts to ignore it.

All of this was so unbelievably stupid. He took off his hat and pulled his shirt off so that he could have a look at his bruised shoulder. He had been thrown against a boulder, whose rough surface had imprinted his skin with a jagged injury oozing blood; nothing serious, but even a small wound could become inflamed if not treated, and he didn't need a thing like that, either.

"You have many tattoos," Luffy said.

"So what?" What was the _point_ of such an obvious statement? Though Law wouldn't have said there were that many of them, more like 'a few'. He was cursing one of them right now, because wounds were more difficult to see in inked area.

"Just thinking that they look pretty nice."

Law decided right then that he needed more cotton balls for cleaning, so as to get an excuse to lower his gaze and start rummaging the bundle. There should have been a limit to how much a person was allowed to confuse and surprise someone, but Luffy was defying all logic and reason.

First it had been a nice smile, and now this – if Luffy hadn't been Luffy, Law would have imagined that those comments actually meant something. But Luffy was just saying everything that came to his mind, without ulterior motives.

Law didn't just have ulterior motives. He had ulterior motives behind ulterior motives, row after row, they were sitting in the back of his mind like an audience in some shady auditorium, continuing to infinity.

They could never get along, much less _understand_ each other.

"I didn't take them as decorations," he muttered, moving to tend the next scratch.

"Yeah, I get it. Things like these, they tend to have a meaning."

Luffy's tone was exceptionally serious, making Law to look up. Luffy was lying on his back and spinning his hat around with his index finger. "Everyone has things like that..." Luffy was quiet for a long time, just watching the movement of the hat. "Things you need to keep with you no matter what and must never be lost."

Law was biting his lip to prevent his jaw from going slack. There really was no limit to surprises, apparently.

Then Luffy flashed a wide, radiant smile. "But it's not a bad thing if they also look cool, right?"

"I guess not."

"I also wanted to put my Jolly Roger somewhere, maybe a shoulder, that would've been so nice. But Chopper said it can't be done 'cause I'm like this, see –" Luffy was stretching his arm more and more upwards, until one of the band-aids tore off. "Oops. It tore off."

There were no words to describe how tired Law suddenly was. He hid his face behind his palm, actually wanting to laugh and cry at once, but refusing to do either even though the corners of his mouth were twitching.

Luffy grabbed his wrist, yanking the hand aside. "I knew you'd have a nice smile, Traffy."

" _Law._ And do not just touch me like that!"

"Hmph, why not? It's not a big deal."

It was.

There were two kinds of people. The first kind thought that it really was the most natural thing to cling to others without any good reason; pat their back, throw an arm around their shoulder, lean against their shoulder and fall asleep right there. Luffy was one of those, that much was clear.

Law very definitely was not, and he felt very awkward every time someone did anything like that. Bepo was the only exception, courtesy of him not being a human being – the only situations when Law felt it was natural to touch other humans were sexual or when he was acting as a doctor. His brain tended to shortcircuit every time when he tried to understand that it was not an opinion shared by everyone.

It was even worse to be horny and stranded on a desert island with a person you were grudgingly interested in, and get touched _knowing it wasn't a big deal for the other_.

With a heavy sigh Law took a square bottle containing some kind of medicine from the bundle, uncapping it and sniffing it to find out what exactly it was. Luffy was watching his hands closely, curiously. It didn't help Law's confusion at all.

Was it only his imagination, or was Luffy also watching his throat while he took a sip from the bottle and swallowed?

The medicine was bitter, but he was able to identify most of its ingredients and Chopper might have added something advanced, about which he made a mental note to ask later. The pain in his ribs started to lessen immediately. "Are you aware that you have a really good doctor?" he asked; it definitely was best to change the topic now.

"Yup! Chopper is awesome, isn't he? He's saved everyone's lives so many times. I like him really much." Luffy's smile was reaching to his ears again. "And now I have you as well, so I have two awesome doctors. That's even better."

"I am not your doctor, Straw Hat."

"Yes you are."

"Am not."

"Yes."

"No!"

"You are if I decide so!"

Law hadn't heard such a valid reasoning for awhile. He snorted, dangerously close to laughing, even though it was a scary thing to understand that Luffy was being _serious_.

~*~

Luffy insisted on having a campfire, such a thing apparently was essential while camping. Law didn't see any reason to call _this_ camping, but he also didn't care for one way or the other. If Straw Hat wanted a campfire, let him have one. It wasn't like there was lack of fallen trees.

Law used his ability to help building a small shelter to shield them from wind and possible rain, and threw their one and only blanket there to wait. He would be sleeping there. Luffy could choose between crawling beside him or sleeping under the open sky without a blanket, but Law definitely would be sleeping there with the blanket, period. Even if it still was pretty warm, it was getting colder as the night began to fall.

When the campfire was crackling merrily, Luffy sat next to Law, cross-legged and so close that his knee was resting against Law's thigh. It was difficult to analyze if it meant something. There was so much space everywhere around them that there definitely was no need to sit so close, but on the other hand... _Luffy_. Law decided against reading anything from the gesture, resisting the urge to move a bit further because _'it's not a big deal'_ , but the thought sounded scathingly sarcastic in his head.

"Time to eat!" Luffy chimed, pushing the bundle of supplies into Law's lap. "Food, food... I've been waiting for this all day long. Sanji's food really is the best, right?"

Law threw Sanji's sweet note into the fire, and watching it flame and burn gave him a bit of satisfaction. The pile of sandwiches wasn't any more appetizing now than it had been just after waking up, even though he was hungry, but at least they contained fillings. He took the first sandwich, opening it and starting to pick lettuce, cold cuts and whatever he happened to find into his mouth, moving the loathsome loafs of bread aside. It wasn't a very fulfilling meal.

"You really don't want those?" Luffy asked.

"No way in hell."

In the next moment the whole stack of loafs had disappeared. Watching Luffy to eat was an absurd and a bit disgusting thing, maybe a bit amusing even. To his utter horror Law found out that it might also be arousing. Right now he could have done without noticing how elastic the whole of Luffy was, throat included. The observation was inevitably followed by a mental image of how to utilize the feature, and just how deep –

Fuck. He had done a lot of pretty bad things in his life, but even then, had he really deserved to be put through _this_ agony?

"Why are you looking so angry again, Traffy? You want a piece of meat? ... But just one."

"I'm not, I don't want it, and I don't understand how you're fitting all of that food into yourself."

Luffy proved that it was a very easy thing to manage, by pushing a big chunk of meat into his mouth, bone and all, and soon pulling the cleanly gnawed bone out.

Law wasn't thinking of pushing his cock into that mouth, past that throat, balls deep, it was evident that it wouldn't be any problem for Luffy. He wasn't thinking of it. No, not at all.

... Many minutes passed without him thinking of anything else. And it was even more difficult to get rid of the image as he got more excited.

Luffy gave a satisfied sigh after finishing his meal, patting his stomach and placing himself to lean against Law's shoulder. "That was a really good meal."

Law couldn't say that he agreed. He pretended to move into a more comfortable position because of his unexpected ending up as a pillow, bending his leg so that it would be impossible for Luffy to flop down on his boner and thus notice it.

What a really delightful evening this was turning out to be.

"Your shoulder's really bony," Luffy said.

"Don't lean on it, then. As far as I know, I haven't advertised it as some high-class pillow."

"No, I want to lean."

What a fucking kind of Luffy-logic that was, Law would never understand. At least it was taking his mind off of his crotch, which was a relief in itself.

"We'd better start sorting out those issues," he said. It would be fruitless to put it off any more, the atmosphere wasn't so bad at the moment either.

"Didn't we fight already?"

If only it would have been so simple. "If you think it's sorted out, why haven't you called your crew so that we could get away from here?"

"And miss an adventure on a desert island? Camping is _fun_."

Law's sigh was endlessly heavy. "And even though you want to stay here longer, you ate all of your food in one go?" His brain would commit suicide at any second.

"Was hungry. Besides I've decided to leave in the morning. But it's nice to sleep next to the campfire."

Luffy could make that call in the morning, but Law was ready to even eat a sandwich if the crew was willing to come for them then. Those issues that needed sorting out couldn't have been more tangled, even though Luffy had decided to ignore it.

"We should talk about the reason for wanting to fight in the first place, otherwise it'll just –"

"Naaaah, you're worrying way too much," Luffy interrupted. "You sound just like Robin."

And that was a bad thing? Law considered Robin as the most sane and intelligent of the Straw Hat pirates by far.

"And like Zoro."

 _What the fuck?_ "How so?"

"You're as grumpy as Zoro. And as gloomy as Robin."

... That might be true.

Luffy gave a laugh. "I like them really much, so I like you too."

The logic behind that was so unbelievable that Law was tempted to dig a few meters deep hole into the ground and bury himself in total despair.

"Are you quite sure you're not angry? Because you sure look really angry right now, Traffy."

Not angry. More like frustrated, again or still, Law didn't even know which one it was. There were so many things that frustrated him at the same time, he didn't even want to explain, but on the other hand he wanted to get away from the island. Preferably _now_.

"You really hate bread that much?"

Law sighed. "I loathe it, but that's not the reason." It had been just a catalyst, accelerating the breaking of his self-control to the point where he had stooped to fight. The real components of the problem were something else entirely, and he was waiting for Luffy to ask about them next.

"For real? All kinds of bread?"

Should have guessed that Luffy had stopped listening after the first two words. "That is not important –"

"I've never met anyone who hates bread before. You're really weird! You really mean all kinds of bread?"

"... Yeah." Law didn't even have courage to hide his face into his palm, because he probably would have suffocated himself by overdoing it.

"A bread roll?"

"Those too."

"A baguette?"

"Yes, those too. Could we please move forw-"

"There was a time when I also hated a baguette for a while," Luffy said.

Law didn't answer even though the nugget was pretty surprising. He hoped the silence would kill this conversation about bread, too bad that Luffy apprently took it as a sign that Law wanted to hear more.

"Sanji was trying out a new recipe and they were sooooo good, and I kind of went and pushed one of them into my mouth whole –"

An image of an elongated baked product disappearing into Luffy's bottomless mouth, pushing itself deeper and deeper... Just when Law had managed to kill his previous erection, it came back with vengeance. Wasn't that lovely.

"– said it was disgusting and decided to kick some tablemanners into me. I wonder why he got so mad? The main thing is that food is some way going down to the stomach. But I bit my tongue and was about to choke, and some crumbs even came out of my nose! It was horrible."

The end of the rant was contrasting with Law's perverse thoughts so blatantly that his brain was cramping for a while. It was something that happened all the time with Luffy. "... Yeah, bread is vile," he voiced, because there wasn't anything else he could come up with.

"Did something like that happen to you, too? There was a time when you were a kid and you tried to push a bread roll into your nostril and it got stuck, or –"

Law couldn't help bursting into some kind of soundless, hysteric laughter, not very far from crying, either. He was shaking in his place, bruised ribs aching, and tried to calm down, which was easier said than done.

"Oh, you _do_ laugh sometimes after all! You should laugh more," Luffy said, slapping Law's back a few times in obvious joy.

It was so awkward that it managed to restore some of Law's composure. Law gave a couple of coughs and tried pretending the episode just didn't happen. "Straw Hat, we really should be focusing on more important things."

"Food is important!"

"No, it's not!"

"How would you live without food? You can't think of your fine plans if you're dead, so food is important!

Sometimes the most simple statements were the hardest to counter, even if you wanted to. "Okay, that is kind of true, but –"

"Yup."

"In that case we should sort out those issues. I guess you don't want to stay here starving for a longer time than necessary?" Law tried an attack to Luffy's weak point.

"We're not starving, there's food aboard the ship." Luffy thought for a moment. "Don't worry, Traffy. I'll kick Sanji's ass if all he has to offer is sandwiches."

Law didn't have a clue about whether to be pleased or humiliated with that kind of promise. Like he couldn't handle the bastard cook himself, but on the other hand that promise made him feel dangerously warm inside. It indicated that Luffy had taken his preferences in eating seriously and cared of them. That aside, the menu aboard the ship was the least of their problems. "I really don't believe we can leave so soon, you're refusing to see the whole pict-"

"Nah, stop _nagging_."

"Do you want to die right now?"

"Nope. You're pretty stupid, aren't you? Why would I want to die?"

"In that case don't order me around." Law really hated it. He didn't grace the comment about stupidity with any kind of answer.

Luffy finally lifted his head from Law's shoulder in order to really look at him. The next moment Luffy had grabbed the lapels of his coat and their noses were almost touching.

"You keep saying we're supposed to sort out this and sort out that, but you're not saying anything else," Luffy snarled, moving closer still – their noses really pressed together. "If you have something real to say, let's hear it now!"

This seemed like an extremely horrible moment to say: _'I'm really frustrated, irritated and confused, because I want to fuck you and because you're continually not giving a shit about being sensible. Besides, you're way too close. If you continue like this, I'll kill you or fuck you, or at least I'll seriously try to.'_

Saying anything like that was definitely a bad idea anyway, especially to someone who was strong enough to kick his ass in a fight. He didn't know who would win if they really tried to kill each other and used their strongest attacks, and he didn't have any desire to find out.

"Well?"

Law still needed to think before doing anything. He jerked himself out of Luffy's hold and stumbled to his feet. "I'm going to sleep."

"Night." Luffy pulled his hat to hide his eyes, not moving a muscle after that.

Going to sleep for real was now Law's only option. He strode to the stream which was flowing from the spring to brush his teeth, wishing the island to be bigger and with some privacy. A handjob would have been good for him, but he didn't want Luffy catching him with his hand in his pants.

Or maybe that was exactly what he wanted. Imagined Luffy grinning widely, saying something like _'That looks like fun, I want to join too!'_

They had some serious issues.

Law tried to calm down by watching the stars and breathing deeply for a while, before crawling into the shelter. He flopped down onto his stomach, burying his face into the hoodie he was using as a pillow. Sleep didn't come easily.


	3. The Second Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of your comments and kudos I've been getting! They encouraged me when I started to pull my hair and wonder why exactly I thought I could work anything into somehow understandable English. : )

Waking up was even worse than Law had imagined. At some point of the night Luffy apparently had realized being cold, and crawled next to Law. Now Luffy had wrapped himself around Law in a way that was possible only for rubbermen and giant octopuses. An even, warm breathing was caressing Law's neck, giving him the most pleasurable shivers.

Law's possibilities for disentangling himself from this hold without waking Luffy up seemed to be round zero. One of Luffy's legs had twined itself around Law's several times as if to make sure that the heat pillow wouldn't run away during the night.

The best course of action was probably first killing his morning wood and then slapping Luffy awake. So Law started thinking of the most un-arousing things in existence, like Pica and his voice, and a certain pink feather coat. A mental image of Trebol also worked pretty fucking well for this purpose. If someone was able to find that creep arousing, the sick pervert was in serious need of a shrink.

Having made sure that he wouldn't embarrass himself, Law hit Luffy's flank. "It's morning now, let go."

Luffy tightened his hold, nosing Law's neck sleepily. "But you're so warm..."

Trebol. Trebol. Trebol. Now it was essential to think only of that moving lump of slime. Remember that eternally running nose and those big balls of snot hanging out, _wobbling_.

The mental nosedive into a barrel of pus worked so well that Law suspected developing a short-term impotence. Such a thing would be a blessing in these circumstances, so he hoped it would last until they got away from the island, but wasn't very optimistic. Luffy felt too good pressed against him.

No, do not think about it. _Trebol._

"Don't you want any breakfast?" he asked after managing to concentrate his thought processes in his brain. There wasn't anything to eat, but maybe Luffy wouldn't remember it while so sleepy.

"Food!" Luffy let go immediately and bolted to sit upright.

Law got up, too, straightening his clothes and wondering how it was possible for anyone to be that simple. Apparently the feature could be exploited at times. Another delightful observation was that both of his eyes agreed to opening because the swelling had lessened, but one of them was really painful to touch.

The sun was rising above the horizon, making the sea glimmer in hues of gold. It was pretty chilly and Law was trembling a bit. He felt even colder while watching Luffy, who was stretching his arms with his shirt still casually unbuttoned. If they didn't want to freeze, they needed to either keep moving or light the campfire again.

Luffy remembered not having any food, retrieving the baby snailphone instead.

"Isn't it too early to call them?" Law asked.

"Someone's always awake and steering."

Law had meant the unsolved situation, not the time of day, but whatever. He watched Luffy dial the number and soon the call was answered. Thousand Sunny couldn't be very far away, because it wasn't out of the range.

"Hello? Is it you, Luffy?" The voice belonged to Robin.

"Yeah, me. I'm hungry, so came to fetch us."

"I'm sorry, but we can't do that if you're going to fight aboard the ship. None of us wants to sink."

"But this is serious!"

"Has something happened?" Robin asked.

"Food's gone."

"That's not serious, Luffy."

"Didn't I warn you," Law said.

"Morning, Trafalgar," Robin said, having heard his voice. "How are things really going there?"

"Not good."

"Hey, what are you talking about?" Luffy asked.

"You can stay there until you figure it out yourself, captain," Robin said.

"HEY –"

"Enjoy yourself." The connection died.

"ROBIIIN! YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME HERE OR –" Luffy spent a good while shouting at the snailphone, which had already gone back to sleep. Law covered his ears with his hands until Luffy finally fell silent because of his need to breathe. "Damn."

"Told you it's not that easy," Law said.

"If you didn't tell her that it's not going well –" Suddenly Luffy had seized the lapels of Law's coat again, shaking him.

"Oh, so this is _my_ fault now, Straw Hat?"

"Are you saying it's mine, then?"

"Yes! If you had –"

"Shall we fight?"

Why not? At least it would keep them warm pretty effectively. But Law didn't have time to answer before Luffy's stomach gave a loud rumbling noise, and all of Luffy's fighting spirit seemed to seep from him like air from a deflating balloon.

"Naaaahh... Fighting with an empty stomach is the worst. Need to eat first."

Law sighed. "It's time to fish, then. There was one bundle in which I saw some hooks and fishing line."

Luffy nodded. Suddenly he started to shiver violently, wrapping his arms around him. "It's cold!"

"And you noticed it _now_? That's way too slow, you know."

"Shut up, I'm not slow!"

"Yes you are. How can you wake up, thrown onto a desert island, and miss the fact that you're on a desert island? I just don't und-"

"When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was _you_! Why would I have watched anywhere else?"

The question emptied Law's lungs as effectively as being punched with a fist. When he finally managed to shut his gaping mouth and was ready to make sure if he'd heard right, Luffy already had bolted to go through their things, starting to fiddle with fishing equipment.

~*~

The shore was very steep, the bottom of the sea couldn't be seen despite water being clear. It meant the possibility of something huge swimming around beneath the surface, unseen. Also, falling in would be the end. There wasn't anyone who could dive in to rescue them, and Law had to admit that it made him uncomfortable.

Luffy used a shellfish he had found from the shore as a bait, throwing his hook into the sea without any worry.

Law was about to say something, but changed his mind. It would have been futile anyway, because Luffy just didn't do anything sensible, no matter how hard you tried to make that kind of miracle happen. Come to think again, drowning sounded like a much more relaxing option than trying to cooperate.

"Don't fish if you're that scared of falling in," Luffy snapped.

Even though Law knew it was only a childish provocation, he couldn't not take the bait. That was exactly the reason they were on the island in the first place – because this was what they were doing; annoying and frustrating each other to death because of the stupidest reasons, such as sandwiches and fishing, any kind of tiny excuse was fine. He was intelligent enough to understand the whole picture and its reasons, but apparently not mature enough to leave things be. Not with this frustration boiling in his veins with each heartbeat.

"I'm not _scared_!"

"Yeah right. You're staring at the water with such a gloomy I'm-just-waiting-for-the-doom-day look that –"

"I'm only aware of the realities, unlike someone who isn't thinking at all about what could possibly happen."

"You're _worse_ than Robin. And that's bad."

Law didn't answer. The water seemed really dark and cold.

"Robin-impression –" Luffy widened his eyes, schooling his face otherwise completely serious, and talked with an even tone. " _I hope a Sea King won't pull us into the ocean, because we would drown._ "

That hit the nail. But the imitation was so fitting that Law had to snort with laughter.

He decided to fish despite everything, because he was hungry and _wasn't scared_ , childish as it may be. He might have chosen to stand a bit closer to the shoreline than necessary, just to make a point. Luffy didn't say anything when he tossed his hook into the sea.

They were way hungrier than fish, who didn't even come to nib at the baits for a long time. In that lazy boredom Law's eyes began to wander at Luffy, who was standing a couple of meters further, staring at the spot where his fishing line disappeared beneath the surface.

Luffy didn't look like a person who would just wait in his place patiently and silently, but apparently that kind of thing was possible after all. He had made the fishing rods very quickly and dexterously, and come to think again, it was very obvious that he had much experience in surviving in wilderness without anyone's help. It would explain a lot if he had grown up running untamed in some forest or something, and not in any kind of civilized town.

He did have a kind of unconscious, rough and wild appeal, tons of it actually, plus his careless idiotism was infuriatingly cute at times. The ambivalent combination frustrated Law out of his mind both intellectually and sexually.

It was one of the bigger problems to figure out how to bring up the latter topic. It would have been easier, had Law sometimes seen Luffy watching someone admiringly or telling even one indecent joke; it would have proven that Luffy's thoughts drifted below the belt sometimes. But such signs just didn't exist.

Luffy glanced at him, smiling widely as their eyes met.

Law started to stare at the water very intently. He needed to come up with something, this was so unbelievably stupid.

"You're really that scared of falling in?"

... Huh? Falling in was the last thought in Law's mind.

"Because you're really tense," Luffy continued.

Was it that apparent even with their few meters distance?

Luffy's arm suddenly stretched to wrap itself a couple of times around Law's waist. "I won't let you fall in, so take it easy."

"... Thank you very much," Law muttered, while cursing silently. He wasn't very optimistic of their issues being sorted out anytime soon – they didn't even agree to what exactly was the problem. The solution for the falling-in-problem just worsened the worst of Law's problems, frustration.

He still didn't want Luffy to let go. The hold felt too strong and comfortable.

~*~

The one and only small spring on the island lay in the shadow of the trees and its dark surface reflected so well that Law was able to use it as a mirror, to have a look at his bruised eye. It wasn't a very charming sight to see; the skin around the eye a dark shade of purple, and combined with the eternally black shadows under his eyes... He prescribed himself two gulps of that medicine Chopper had made, after he would have washed himself with the water from the stream.

He found a suitable place downstream, where the sun of the early evening was casting its rays. The warmth would be more than welcome after getting wet and freezing. Law would have loved to outright skip this amusement, but was starting to feel intolerably sticky. And there was fine sand everywhere on this island; it found its way into every single garment, shoes included, itching, chafing, abrading and generally speaking driving him crazy.

If he had any intention of doing this, he definitely was going to do it before Luffy managed to relight the campfire and come to find him. His shivering didn't need an audience, the least of all Luffy.

He quickly stripped off and kneeled by the stream, starting to slosh water on himself. It was just as fucking freezing as he had expected, every droplet was like burning ice on his skin, making him think how much he really hated camping. He grit his teeth so as not to just wrap his arms around himself and shiver – it would be more merciful for himself to be done as quickly as possible.

Law was almost ready and had reached the state where the splashes of water weren't shocks anymore, instead he pretty much was a steadily shivering miserable mess, when he heard the voice he had been dreading.

"Traffy! Oh, you're here! Wah, that seems to be really cold."

Law didn't answer; he feared biting his tongue because of his chattering teeth.

"I should probably wash, too," Luffy said. "Lend me some soap?"

"Go ahead." Law hastened his actions as much as he could, because he really wanted some clothes on for millions of reasons. This situation was becoming more and more awkward.

And then, Luffy just stripped off. Just like that, like he was alone, or at least like the possibility of Law looking at him didn't even cross his mind.

That made some things clear, at least Law supposed so. Whatever it was that Luffy thought of him, it surely was something completely un-sexual, even though he was suitable to be used as a rest and a heat pillow and such. There was no human being capable of just taking their clothes off in front of their romantic interest for the first time, without being a bit self-conscious. Such a thing just wasn't possible, not even for someone who actually liked their body and was self-assured. In that kind of situation you had to feel _something_.

It was an unexpectedly miserable realization.

Luffy's shorts were sliding down his narrow hips and Law suddenly was grateful for the freezing water. There wasn't much getting hard while being so fucking cold.

He put on his clothes as quickly as possible, giving a relieved sigh when he threw the coat onto his shoulders. It was black and the sun had warmed it up nicely, so wrapping it around himself couldn't have been any more welcome.

"Did you already light that campfire?" he asked.

"Yeah."

Law decided to go and warm himself by the fire while waiting for the moment they could actually roast something on coals. He tried not to look at Luffy, who was huffing while splashing freezing water on himself. Especially Law tried not to analyze why his mood had suddenly turned so sour.

~*~

It was getting dark and Law was sitting by the campfire. He had impaled some fruits with a pointed stick and was frying them for dessert. Luffy was sitting beside him, too close once again. Coals were glowing with heat, making Law take off his coat for a while and sit on it. Luffy was momentarily silent, which was a blessed break. In other words; the situation could have been much worse.

They had caught enough fish eventually, and hadn't been downright fighting even once, so it could be said that the day had been successful in some way. Remembering his defeat in their discussion yesterday had made Law decide that he wouldn't try to sort out anything, just wait what was to come. Being silent was something he was good at; he'd gotten a lot of practise in it.

Luffy had initiated a conversation a few times, and all of those openings had been about really bright topics. Human's hair was growing all the time unless you cut it, but why Chopper never needed to cut his fur? Or was it that Chopper cut it in secret? While Law held in a laughter Luffy had continued by guessing what Sanji might have cooked for the others, almost drooling while reciting some alternatives. Law was dumbfounded by the amount of dishes Luffy was able to name, among many others were several foreign gourmet delicacies with which Sanji used to court Robin and Nami.

That had been followed by an unexpected observation of how soft Law's hat was, and a very disturbing moment with Luffy trying to paw at it. That had made Law doubt his earlier diagnosis and now he felt like he didn't understand a thing anymore.

It was completely certain that they would spend _a long time_ on the island, unless Law laid his cards on the table in a way that would force Luffy to admit they actually existed. But how to start? Being blunt sounded suicidal, while beating around the bush would make sure Luffy stopped listening before Law really got to it.

He took the stick with fruits off from hot coals. The fruits looked like creased apples and smelled like heated sugar.

Luffy leaned closer to the lumps, inhaling deeply. "Smells good. You planning to eat all of those?"

Law shook his head. The things were so sweet that he probably couldn't eat more than one, and had already guessed that Luffy would be drooling all over him after seeing them, so he had been proactive. He took one for himself, careful not to burn his fingers, and gave the stick with the rest of fruits to Luffy. "Carefully, they're –"

"Ow!" Luffy, of course, had been too greedy while grabbing one. He jerked his fingers quickly further from the fruit, starting to vigorously blow on them.

"... hot." Apparently Law was forced to play doctor once again, there wasn't much else to do. "Let me have a look at that hand."

He was waiting for Luffy to snap that he was completely all right. Instead, the injured hand was held out for Law without complaints and the strange fruits got to cool off further away. It felt so un-Luffy-like, and thus meaningful, that Law was highly conscious of his every movement when he took the hand and leant closer.

Luffy's hand was very warm in spite of the evening being chill, he apparently had a good circulation of blood. Law wanted to wrap his own fingers together with Luffy's, but of course he didn't. He didn't touch the small reddish area in the fingertip with his lips, either, despite thinking about it. Just one glimpse was enough, then he forced himself to let go. "It's small and superficial. Just dip it into a water bowl for a while."

Luffy did like he was told to, dipping his finger into the bowl from which he'd been drinking. "Yeah, this helps. Thanks."

Law changed his position restlessly, but their legs were still touching. _Why_ Luffy had to sit so close all the time? He was still confused because of what had transpired a moment ago. "It seems that an apple a day doesn't keep the doctor away." A desperate attempt to lighten the atmosphere, Law couldn't believe sinking this low.

"I don't even want to keep you away."

Was that an actually pretty clever attempt to get closer, or a completely innocent statement with which Luffy didn't aim at anything? Law couldn't tell, and being able to distinguish those from each other would have been essential while deciding how to react. And why was he himself always thinking too much?

When in doubt, it was the best option to wait and try to dig out some more. "Apparently not." He glanced meaningfully at Luffy's knee, resting against his thigh very intimately.

"Is this really troubling you?"

"Yeah." He just didn't know if it was a good or a bad kind of trouble – for that he would have needed to know if it meant anything. But it was definitely troubling him, demanding his attention all the time.

Luffy didn't talk for a while, giving thoughtful 'Hmm' with a hand on his chin, until arriving at conclusion. "I think you're lying, Traffy."

"Am not."

"You are. 'Cause you're not the type of guy who would just sit there and do nothing, if you hated it."

Shit. The instinct simply hitting the nail in the head was a scary thing, when it was coming out so unexpectedly, but he couldn't argue that. Splitting hairs was always possible, though. "I didn't say a word about hating it. You asked if it _troubles_ me, that is a completely different thing."

"Oh." That was followed by ominous kind of thoughtful silence, after which Luffy's lips stretched into a particularly frightening wide grin. "So it's _nice_ kind of troubling, if you don't hate it."

Law was doomed, dead and six feet under, and every horrible thing like that, that much was sure. Luffy's eyes had lit like he just figured how to steal the last piece of meat from the table, which definitely couldn't be good.

Luffy jumped on his feet, brushing most of the sand from his shorts, and without further ado sat on Law's lap. Casually straight onto his thighs, so that they were face to face and Luffy's knees were practically digging into Law's armpits. Never before had Law felt so much like a chair, which existed in sole purpose of people sitting on it – there couldn't be a person who could so straightforwardly just place themselves on someone's lap for the first time.

Exept that Luffy could, apparently. He was leaning his elbow comfortably on Law's shoulder while observing him.

"Just _what_ exactly are you doing?" Law asked.

"Troubling you."

"Indeed." The warm weight on Law's thighs and the realization that he actually was now between Luffy's legs were very distracting as they were, not to mention how close Luffy's face was to his own. Unexpected closeness made him tingle, uncertainty of Luffy's intentions just strenghtening the sensation even more. He needed to sort out those intentions _now_ , because soon he would grab Luffy's buttocks and pull their groins together if anything didn't prevent him from doing so. "Why?"

"Felt like it."

That wasn't an answer, Law wanted to know why Luffy suddenly felt like sitting on his lap was a great idea. Even more he wanted to do whatever he felt like doing, too, and because Luffy's eyes seemed to say _'Now I'm right here, what are you going to do about it? Come on'_ , he did just that. Improvised.

He placed his hand on Luffy's back, which felt warm through the shirt. Luffy arched when Law slid his hand lower along Luffy's spine, neck stretching out right in front of Law; it was practically offered to him, so nobody could blame him for pressing his lips on it.

"Haaahh, Traffy –"

Encouraged, Law kissed that neck more greedily; it tasted so promisingly wild and masculine that his pants started to feel tight right away. The noises Luffy made were just pouring oil into the fire, he didn't even try to hold them in. Law wanted to hear more of that, sliding his hand lower to the buttocks and squeezing.

Luffy moaned as his hips were snapping forward without any restraint, neck stretching out even more, and Law attached his mouth to Luffy's throat and sucked. The buttocks he was kneading were delicious and firm, all of this was making him feverishly throb in his pants. There was a sudden thought that slowing down would probably be the most sensible action of the day, but he wasn't feeling sensible at all, so he pulled Luffy closer until their groins were pressing together.

Getting some contact and pressure where Law wanted it the most felt almost unbearably good. Luffy was hard too, appreciating the pressing together rather loudly, so Law moved his hips as much as he could, grinding against Luffy. Pants were very badly in a way and would soon strangle his cock dead.

Luffy's habit of wearing his shirt unbuttoned finally came in handy, when Law let his hands wander along that bare chest. He didn't need to let go of Luffy's throat and watch to know where that scar exactly was; skin felt different there, it's edges were noticeable, ribbed, uneven. He felt kind of proud of his skills as a doctor, while running his fingers along the injury. Had he been a worse doctor, they wouldn't be here making out right now. That would have been a shame.

Luffy was all tendons and muscle, an amazing amount of power packed in a small body. Law couldn't resist snatching a bit of skin between his fingers and stretching it, just because it was so absurd. There were innumerable very strange Devil's Fruit abilities in the world, but this one had to be one of the most bizarre.

They were grinding against each other with increasing determination after Luffy had caught on, making Law remember that he had something better to do with his hands. He brushed Luffy's nipple with his thumb experimentally.

"Ah! That – feels good – Traffy – again –"

For once the orders didn't irritate Law in the slightest, it was quite a turn-on to hear how uninhibitedly Luffy was expressing himself. Like Law needed more of those... He was kissing a trail lower still, pausing where neck met a shoulder, and attacking that place like he wanted to eat Luffy alive. There would be some fucking ugly marks and he couldn't have cared less.

"Hhaaa!" Luffy was fumbling to have a bit more support and his hands found their way on Law's head. "It really is really soft..."

 _What?_ Law couldn't remember being so desperately horny and rock-hard for a long time, he needed to get out of his pants right now if he didn't wish to go crazy, how could Luffy –

A pet on the top of his head made him realize that Luffy was talking of his hat, not his dick. Then the headwear was taken off and placed aside, and Luffy buried his fingers into Law's hair.

Law decided to do the same. Luffy's hair was like the rest of him – unruly, rough and completely disorganized, it could never be tamed into any kind of planned hairstyle. How fitting.

They paused for a while to look at each other, Luffy's eyelids seemed heavy and his gaze soft; it definitely was time to finally kiss, so Law leant closer and closer... and stopped, because Luffy was pursing his lips in a childishly cute way that had absolutely nothing to do with actual kissing.

"Have you ever done this before?" Law needed to know before doing anything more. With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been proper to find this out before groping Luffy's ass, but there hadn't been even the smallest insecurity to hint that it might be Luffy's first time. _How_ was Law supposed to interpret and understand a guy like that?

"Nope!" Luffy shook his head, uncorcerned.

The reaction was so off that Law coughed, air escaping his lungs. No one could act so naturally while doing these things for the first time, it was inevitable to be at least a bit uneasy and nervous. On the other hand, he couldn't imagine Luffy being in such a state of mind, ever. Luffy just... was what he was.

Luffy watched him for a long time, frowning; it seemed really uncharacteristic. "Is that a bad thing? Should I practise first?"

"No, that's not it."

"Why did you stop, then? It started to feel really nice and tingly, you know?"

Oh, Law did know. And this had to be the most mindboggling conversation about sex he had ever had in his life. "I'm just –" _flabbergasted_ "– surprised." But the questions would have to wait.

If Luffy was ready to happily jump off the cliff without knowing what was waiting for him, what else was Law supposed to do than jump with him?

He dug his fingers deeper into Luffy's hair, leaning closer again, not caring about that ridiculous pursing of the waiting lips. He would handle that, now pressing their lips together was the most important thing.

In the beginning the kiss was pretty awful, but quickly got better as Law was nibbling at Luffy's lips, coaxing them to part. He tried to take this slowly and gently, it was the first kiss after all, but the suppressed desire was burning in his veins and Luffy did nothing to improve his self-control. Very soon Luffy started to imitate Law's movements with twofold enthusiasm. Law couldn't resist such a thing, soon they had thrown themselves into a fierce battle of tongues.

They were pulling each other even closer, until their chests were squeezed together and Law's ribs complaining again, but intensity of the moment was only heightened by being a bit uncomfortable. His mouth had never been explored so thoroughly – those things Luffy's tongue was capable of doing were downright _unfair_ , making him tremble with desire. When he so much as imagined getting his cock sucked by Luffy... it couldn't be anything short of blinding bliss. He needed to get rid of their pants, get closer, actually needed to properly breathe for a change, but their lips were practically glued together.

He managed to slip his hand between them, pinching Luffy's nipple, which caused the connection to break.

"Ahaahh, Traffy –"

"Law. Please." He pushed Luffy's shirt off his shoulders, baring all of his torso for curious fingers.

Luffy grinned, seizing the hem of Law's shirt and tugging the garment over his head. "Want to see you too, Law."

Honestly, Law had expected 'Sourpuss', and the thought forced him to snort with laughter. He swallowed the noise as quickly as possible, because it didn't feel very sexy.

Luffy didn't agree, apparently, instead smiling at him. "You really look good when you're not so serious."

"And I don't, while being serious, you mean?" Law tried to sound irritated, but was too amused for that.

"Wah, that wasn't what I meant!"

Whatever it was that Luffy possibly meant remained as mystery, because their lips smashed into each other greedily again. Law's hands were sliding down along sinewy back and grabbing Luffy's buttocks, bringing their groins together with even more intent than before. A startling wave of pleasure forced him to pant and throw his head back, and Luffy was quick to take the opportunity to kiss his neck.

"It went kinda like this, right?" Luffy glued his lips to the side of Law's neck and sucked.

Law felt he was melting and burning at the same time, arching helplessly towards Luffy. When it came to using his body, Luffy apparently was quick as hell to learn, which wasn't a surprise if you had witnessed his fighting genius even once. Law's heart was beating wildly and all of his blood had rushed into his cock, he couldn't help starting to yank his pants open.

He couldn't count how many erections he had been forced to kill with unpleasant thoughts during the last two days, without any opportunity to actually get rid of some pressure, but obviously there had been one too many. It was starting to became so painful that he was ready to even jerk off right in front of Luffy's curious eyes. Just thinking of that made him even hornier.

Luffy noticed that Law was doing something, lowering his gaze just as the zipper slid open.

"Oh, you too," Luffy said. "I've kinda wanted to do that for some –"

Law didn't need more encouragement than that to attack Luffy's pants, and after some squirming and yanking they were both naked. Soon Luffy's warm weight was settling pleasantly on Law's thighs again, and there was a short, still moment during which they were just looking at each other.

Luffy was tracing the tattoo on Law's chest with his finger, until passing by a nipple and pinching it. Quick to learn, indeed, Law thought as he let out a muffled groan, his cock practically jumping upwards. This was starting to be too much, they could do this let's-be-nice-and-get-familiar-with-each-other stuff later, but right now the top priority was something else.

"Come closer." And because Luffy didn't move quickly enough, Law wrapped his arms around him and pulled, until all of their lenghts were pressing together.

Going by his surprised, ecstatic moan, Luffy had been unprepared to such a feeling. Law made use of the stunned moment, wrapping his fingers around their lenghts, squeezing them even tighter together. He moved his hips experimentally, rubbing against his hand and Luffy's cock, which was twitching hard and strong. It was just so fucking _good_ that his eyes were about to turn around.

"Haahh, Traffy, you, ah, that's, ah –" Luffy managed to find support from Law's shoulder, starting to grind against him, appreciating the act very vocally.

They were quickly getting slicker, which made moving that much easier. Law started pumping his hand up and down, getting lost in the fastening pace and listening to Luffy's deepening moans, some of them broken words.

It was a bit surprising when Luffy's hand joined Law's own, starting to fiddle with the sensitive, swollen heads. Every little touch was bringing his orgasm closer like a rising tide, until it swallowed him, making him see white.

Law opened his eyes, a bit disoriented, seeing Luffy with his back arched in an impossible way, clearly approaching his own climax. That body was begging to be touched, but Law didn't have time to do more than tighten his hold of Luffy's cock before it was spilling on his hand, accompanied with an extremely loud groan.

Luffy collapsed onto his back on Law's legs and took a few deep breaths, chest rising and falling. It felt like a long time for Law, while he was waiting for Luffy to say something. Finally Luffy propped himself up on his elbows, a huge grin on his face. "Woah, that was –"

A bit pitiful, to be honest. Although extremely satisfying at the same time. Law was the more experienced and in every way more patient of them, so he should have had much more self-control, and was a bit embarrassed. He _had_ known that this was Luffy's first time, and had still let his dick do the thinking.

"– awesome! I've never thought you can do it like that."

"That was one of the ways," Law said.

"I liked it."

Law couldn't help it. When he was watching Luffy, who was sprawling on him, watching him with eyes full of warm and sated amazement... Law just had to smile. "Me too."

As an answer Luffy's smile was growing even wider. "Are we gonna try those other ways, too?"

The absurdity of the question hit Law like a sledgehammer. He caressed Luffy's thigh as he regarded the body wide open in front of him, with those tuned muscles and fascinating scars. They had just had too busy but damn passionate sex, which should make the answer obvious in itself. To ask if he wanted more – in every different way and then switching? "Hell yes."

Luffy stretched his arms, until they were long enough to wrap around Law's neck, hauling himself to sit upright. Their noses were almost touching.

"But tell me first what made you suddenly sit on my lap?" Not that Law was complaining, when things had turned out like this.

"Instinct."

"Please try to elaborate a bit – that was an unexpected move."

"Oh?" Luffy laughed so hard that Law felt a stab of mild annoyance while waiting for the fit to pass. "You said that I'm troubling you. But not in a bad way. That sounded kinda like how I'm feeling when we're close, so I decided to try it out."

"Just like that?" Law's mind was reeling as he thought of it.

Luffy shrugged. "Kinda had a feeling you wouldn't mind."

Law decided to leave it. It was more important to press their lips together again, and he had the firm intention to perform a bit more impressively this time.


	4. The Fifth Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it has taken so long time to get this chapter ready. I haven't been feeling well. I still don't, but decided to continue nonetheless. Working with this pairing kind of always cheers me up.
> 
> Thank you for all of your lovely comments and kudos. <3

The sun was shining, it was sweltering hot, and Law didn't feel like moving a muscle. He was just laying prone on a sandy beach, watching sea and letting the sun warm his back. Luffy was sitting beside him, a fishing rod in his hands, half-asleep in some vigilant way.

It was so bright and peaceful that it was hard to comprehend. A few seagulls were flitting in the cloudless sky, a gust of wind preventing the heat from getting intolerable, and Law was grasping a handful of white sand, watching it run through his fingers. Over and over and over again. He was about to fall into a trance because of the exceptional atmosphere and monotonous movement.

He didn't remember experiencing anything like this before. For once there was a moment when he didn't need to be alert and thinking, like he had stepped completely out of the world into his own little bubble. Everything that was not on this island felt distant, and pretty unmeaningful.

They should leave soon. Probably should have done that yesterday, or a day before yesterday, even. They had solved their issues, after all. The weird thing was, neither of them had done anything to initiate leaving the island. Hadn't even said a word about the ship waiting for them, let alone mentioned calling the Straw Hats. Luffy had stopped guessing what kind of dish Sanji had cooked, maybe because speaking of that might have led to the topic of leaving. They just... were.

Grains of sand were flowing through Law's fingers, a slow, constant stream. Like that in an hour glass. Time couldn't be held onto, even less could it be stopped, it was always moving forward, and they should accept it and step out of their bubble. There were many important things to do – somewhere out there was Kaidou and they were in a fucking _war_ with him; Law needed to haul his ass to Zou to get back onto his own submarine, and so on. Once they would continue their journey, it was sure that things would very quickly get insane.

But that didn't happen _just_ now. Right now it felt like the most important thing to enjoy the moment, because it was so very rare and because such a thing wouldn't happen again in a long time, if ever. That was why it was so precious.

He was also too lazy to even turn on his back for a change.

The sea was turquoise and the sun was glimmering on its waves so brightly that Law was forced to shut his eyes to prevent a starting headache. The combination of sun and wind was so enjoyable that it made him lazily ponder the benefits of a common ship. You could enjoy nice weather on the deck whenever you pleased, instead of shutting yourself into a submarine that was getting stuffier and sweatier all the time... even though that had its advantages, too... he really did have... his reasons...

Something disgusting, cold and wet splashed onto his back, startling him wide awake. When that something _wiggled_ against his lower back, he jumped up so quickly it had to be his personal record.

"Oh, sorry." Luffy didn't sound the least bit sorry while lifting his fishing rod, from which the fish was still hanging. It was about the size of his forearm. "Look, an appetizer."

"Great," Law muttered. It would have been even greater, if Luffy had succeeded in getting the fish out of the water without swinging it on him. As a wake-up call it had been really repulsive.

"Judging by your face you don't want any, sourpuss."

"Oh, now I'm 'sourpuss' again, is that so?"

"Yup, you should see your face."

"You hit me with a fish!"

"Naah, so what?" Luffy made a face, sticking his tongue out.

Law sputtered, shaking his head. Some other time he would have thrown a desperate fit because of such childishness, but he was too lazy and happy right now. And dangerously close to thinking that Luffy was infuriatingly, ridiculously _cute_ at times.

He was probably going crazy because of the heat and dehydration, or something like that. He decided to get water from the spring before they would both melt, and he'd better start fishing too unless he wanted to starve.

It was dangerously easy to enjoy himself here, Law knew he needed to get himself back together soon.

Not yet.

~*~

Law felt that using his Ope Ope powers to cut wood for the campfire was a bit degrading, but did it nonetheless. It was the easiest way, and he was still feeling lazy.

Maybe he had to admit that he also enjoyed Luffy's admiring face while watching him. He slashed the fallen fruit tree neatly, piling the pieces of wood next to him by switching them with pebbles, and Luffy's eyes were shining like stars.

"Whooh, Traffy!" Luffy exlaimed. "That was almost as cool as Franky's laser beam!"

Law suddenly didn't feel so very flattered, even though there was no doubt of Luffy's sincere admiration. It was a bit disturbing to be compared to something you didn't find very impressive, and to top it off, _lose_ that comparison.

"Maybe you should polish your compliments a bit, Straw Hat."

"Why? I'm just saying what I'm thinking."

"Yeah, I've noticed." Law didn't know whether to be annoyed or amused. Suddenly they were back in the phase where he simply wanted to pull his hair out one by one.

Luffy was silent for a while, just watching Law. "You want some compliments, then? Why?"

"I don't need them. It doesn't mean that I like to hear that I'm losing to something."

"Oh." Luffy nodded after a long silence. "Yeah, I get that. But it's a _beam_. A _BEAM!_ There can't be anything cooler than that, so you shouldn't be offended, Traffy."

Now they had suddenly reached an even lower level, the one where Law wanted to dig a hole into the ground and bury himself in complete despair. He had a premonition that in a future he could write a thorough study of those levels of despair one had to go through while communicating with Luffy. Maybe he would call it _The Sorrows of Young Trafalgar_.

"Perhaps you would find my powers a bit cooler if I were to dismember you again?" he suggested, trying to sound as dangerous as possible.

"Yeah, do it!" Luffy's hands were flailing invitingly. "That was like the best merry-go-round ever! More fun than Sabaody Park."

Uhh... Law facepalmed, trying to gather the remnants of his ego and patience. It wasn't beneficial for his self-worth that someone found his threats _funny_. He was rather used to spooking people out of their minds every time he made use of his Devil's Fruit power.

"You're not doing it, after all? And I was just getting excited." Luffy was pouting.

Damn, why did such a thing seem so insanely cute?

Luffy happily bounced to Law, wrapping arms around his waist.

"Sabaody Park was so much fun, too," Luffy said. "Would be nice to go there again. Hey, let's go together! Could we?"

"We have more important things to consider than planning a trip to an amusement park."

"Yeah, but let's go some time. It's an _amusement park_." Luffy's tone gave an impression that amusement parks were almost as cool as laser beams. Probably a bit cooler than Law. "Did you go there? You were on Sabaody too, that time."

"Nope."

Luffy was deeply shaken. "There was an amusement park _and you didn't go_? Just what were you doing, then?"

Law had been doing things that were pretty common for pirates, who had ended up on Sabaody Archipelago and were about to enter the New World. Gathering information and equipment, trying to stay off of marines' and bountyhunters' radars, observing other pirates... A field trip to an amusement park usually wasn't on the to-do-list. He should have guessed that Luffy did things a bit differently.

"Traffy, I've decided."

This sounded bad.

"I'm gonna take you there some day. Then we're gonna ride the merry-go-round until we puke."

It was evident that Luffy was the epitome of being romantic. Law was holding his laughter in, trying to continue being sullen, but it was becaming increasingly impossible. "What about our crews?" he asked.

"We take everyone with us, of course! It's important that everyone gets along, isn't it? With us being together, and all? So we should have some fun together."

That was... in fact, there was some truth in that. It was important to get along with their allies, at least a bit. Law still wasn't so sure that a holiday trip to an amusement park was the best way to go about it.

He imagined what it would be like. Bepo awkwardly oozing cold sweat when a mob of kids mistook him as a mascot, trying to climb onto his lap. What kind of face would Jean Bart make during a roller coaster ride? Shachi and Penguin would be drooling while watching cute girls selling cotton candies... Apparently the climax of the day would be a romantic ride in a merry-go-round with Luffy, after which they could feel a very deep connection by puking their guts out at the same time.

... He kind of wanted to go.

He also wanted to see his own crew. It had been months. He hadn't even been able to tell them about the alliance himself. What had it been like, to read from the newspaper that their captain had formed an alliance with the Straw Hat pirates, just like that?

Maybe he should take the whole lot to an amusement park, to make amends.

"All right. Once we have some time, let's go." _If_ they ever did. Law wouldn't have wagered on that option, but if it happened... Why the hell not?

Luffy squeled in delight and jumped, wrapping his legs tightly around Law's waist, clinging to him.

~*~

A lazy and companionable day was followed by a lazy and companinable evening; frying fish and fruits on the fire, their sides pressing together. Those fruits were surprisingly tolerable if they were fried, even though Law considered them disgustingly sweet while raw. The fire kind of candied their flesh in a way that Luffy's bastard cook would probably find endlessly fascinating.

"These are good," Luffy said. He had already eaten maybe ten of those fried fruits. "Are you secretly a really good chef or something like that?"

"No, I'm not." Honestly, Law couldn't cook worth shit, and when it came to camping and grilling food with open fire, Luffy evidently was much more experienced than him.

"Maybe you're a really good chef and you don't even know it? Frying these never crossed my mind."

Law was pretty sceptical of his latent cooking skills, but couldn't help smiling a bit. There were times when fortune favored him, one thing lead to another and pieces were falling into their places. He had just wanted also something vegetarian to eat and it had been chilly, so he had thought the fruits couldn't be any worse fried than otherwise. So he had put them on fire in a spur of the moment. Who would have thought that they would be especially delicious like that, or that Luffy would get his fingers burned with them, which had had some really enjoyable consequences?

The campfire was warming his feet cozily, while Luffy was warming his side. The sky was starry and everything was so calm.

Until the silence was broken by the snailphone ringing, effectively bursting their little isolated bubble.

Luffy was growling a bit, but got up nonetheless, going to dig the creature from the bundle. Law followed him a bit slower, getting there just as Luffy said, "Hello?"

"Luffy?" Law could hear Nami's voice effortlessly. There were other background voices too, someone was whispering and another voice told the first to be quiet. Maybe all of the Straw Hat crew had gathered around the snail phone to call their captain. "How is it going there? Haven't you already –"

"Did you kill him?" That was Zoro's voice.

Law snorted, stepping right next to Luffy so that he was able to talk, too. "I'm very much alive, thank you for asking."

"Just try to take this seriously!" Nami said. "We should continue our journey, so –"

"Don't wanna," Luffy said.

"Luffy! Think of your adventure –" Nami said.

"Well yeah, of course we're gonna continue, but not just YET."

"Geez, you're always so selfish and –"

"I want to be here with Traffy a bit longer!"

There was a sound like eight people simultaneously giving an irritated sigh. That was no wonder; Law felt the same, even though he agreed with Luffy. A couple of days more would be very much welcomed. Trying to get familiar with his feelings and learn how to get along with Luffy was difficult enough, and chaos aboard the ship wouldn't be any help.

The Straw Hat crew would definitely tease them endlessly about them getting together. That was something Law didn't want to face yet.

"Listen," Nami said. "We'll come to fetch you in the morning, so whatever it is, deal with it before that."

"Not coming." Luffy's lower lip was protruding in an exaggerating way and Law tried to resist kissing him.

"You're not?" Sanji's voice was crafty. "That's a good thing, actually. That means more for us."

"More of what?"

"There was this Sea King earlier today, trying to capsize the ship, so now we have tons of meat. It looks really delicious..."

One mention of meat was all it took for Luffy's face to go completely blank, until images of meat started to flash in his eyes. He was hopeless. _Completely_ hopeless. "Come to get us NOW!"

"That's impossible," Nami said.

"Why? I want to eat now!"

"There are reefs all around the island, I'm not going to zigzag through them while it's dark. In the morning, Luffy."

It appeared to Law that there might be another reason for timing, too. Consideration. This way they had some time to prepare themselves and say what they needed to say.

Luffy was pouting again, being so cute that it didn't make any sense.

"I'll make your favourites for breakfast," Sanji promised.

"Okay, the morning it is." The promise seemed to have cheered Luffy up remarkably.

It was very silent on the island after the connection died. Law didn't know what to say, while Luffy was staring at the snail phone on his palm like contemplating whether he should eat it as an appetizer. "I wanted to eat that meat right now..."

"Isn't that surprising," Law sighed. The atmosphere between them had been so calm, easy and downright romantic, and having it shattered by a phone call made Law so disappointed it surprised him. He had neved pegged himself as a romantic type, unless you counted in the darkest and most macabre kind of romance. "Too bad that I'm incapable of turning myself into a piece of meat, so you just need to do with my company till morning."

Luffy turned to look at Law, starting to smile like someone suddenly had turned on the light switch. "I like your company. And even though you're not a piece of meat, you still taste so good I want to eat you."

There was a demanding tightening in Law's groin, making him wonder how such a clumsy and brutally honest line could make him so horny. It wasn't even meant to turn him on, it just... was. Like so many things with Luffy.

They needed to have a conversion before morning, but it wasn't the only important thing to take care of. 'Getting eaten' sounded like a damn good way to start.

~*~

Law was laying in their shelter, intertwined with Luffy, half of their blanket under them and the other half turned to cover them. That blissful laziness of afterglow made his limbs feel too heavy to move even an inch, but he still tightened his grip of Luffy's waist to pull them together even more closely. It had been too long since he had shared a moment like this with someone, just enjoying being close, listening to their evening breath.

"This is nice," Luffy said. He was resting his head on Law's chest, lazily following the swirls of the tattoo with his finger. The touch was so light, making Law unsure if he should say it tickled or not. Every time he was about to open his mouth because he started to get too ticklish, Luffy happened to press a bit more, turning the touch into a very pleasant one. So it was kind of balancing.

Law made an affirmative noise. This was really nice indeed, he couldn't have imagined how interesting sex partner Luffy could be. Undoubtedly it would get even more interesting after returning to the ship. There wasn't anything suitable to use as a lube amongst their equipment, and that had been a pretty shitty thing to set up. He hoped the Strawhat crew would appreciate their practical joke, when he and Luffy would get into business aboard the ship. It would probably be a blast to listen to them noisily arguing about topping first. Maybe the argument would get so heated that the crew would consider throwing them onto the island again. That would make the irony perfect.

Law was looking forward to it, as well the argument as the sex. Tussling about the most insignifant things seemed to be indelible part of their interaction even when charged tension didn't make both of them cranky. It just _was_.

Law often felt like Luffy's company reduced his IQ by a third. He was ready to admit – only to himself – being damn childish at times, but not this much. Apparently his latent childishness was reacting to Luffy's sincere shenanigans, coming out by force.

But there was more than that. If he gave in every time he recognized the argument as irrelevant, he would never do anything else than give in. And he wasn't going to give in so easily, so they were tussling. It couldn't be avoided, even though they now were –

Come to think again, Law didn't have a clue of _what_ they actually were, or what did that mean. It seemed pretty clear that this... partnership, or whatever that right word was, would continue as long as their alliance, because why would they end something as nice as this? But what would happen after that? Essentially they were rivals, pursuing the same thing.

Was this supposed to continue even after that, considering that they were talking about a trip to Sabaody Archipelago, even if it was half-hearted? It should be clear even to Luffy that such a thing would happen in a very distant future, if ever. Sabaody Archipelago was far away, on the other side of the Red Line, and neither of them was going to turn back. If they ended up there some day... it would be after they had achieved all of their goals.

Was Luffy really going to... So far Law had understood that friendship was something Luffy took with extreme seriousness, being insanely loyal to his friends. Actually, it seemed pretty plausible that a romantic partner would get similar treatment. And _fuck_ , suddenly Law just had to know how deeply and irreversibly they were tied together.

"Luffy?"

"Hm?"

"What do you think we're going to do after we've taken Kaidou down?" That was the goal they had agreed on when forming the alliance, so it made sense to think they would take different paths after that.

"That's a pretty stupid question."

"Oh?" Law thought that it was pretty crucial.

"We're gonna throw a banquet, of course! The kind that takes at least a week! Eat a whole island out of food, sing and dance and laugh and –"

The noise that escaped Law was so frustrated that Luffy fell quiet in the middle of his sentence.

"I meant _us_ ," Law said. "It seems that we do have some kind of a relationship thing going, what about it after the alliance is over?"

Luffy was silent so long that Law imagined him actually thinking how to answer. But when Luffy finally opened his mouth, what came out was: "You really need to think all the time?"

"Yes, thank you for asking."

"Being smart must be awful."

The blunt way Luffy spoke made Law snort, but there wasn't anything funny with the actual content of the line. "Sometimes it is." And Law was just an ordinary person with an IQ above the averige, not some genius like Vegapunk.

Luffy was leaning on his elbow to look Law straight in the face. It was too dim to see much, but Law felt like he could sense a playful and challenging twinkle in those shaded eyes. The kind of look that made him tingle all over like he hadn't gotten laid in a very long time.

"I would appreciate it if you answered," Law said, trying to keep his thought process in control. "I don't like not being able to pl-AANGH!"

In the middle of Law's sentence Luffy had dived down, twirling his tongue around Law's nipple and tugging it lightly with his teeth.

Law was gasping for breath, his back arching uncontrollably. "Luffy, I'm tryi-ingh, _nh_ , trying to –"

Luffy took a hold of Law's cock. Fucking hell, it was absolutely ridiculous how completely Luffy had familiarized himself with Law's body in a couple of days, taking control of it. Luffy more than made amends for his inexperience by being bold, straightforward and curious – a combination Law was ready to worship, because it just happened to be _mindblowing_.

"Shut up," Luffy said.

"Well aren't you fucking sweet." But Law shut up, because thinking became an extremely difficult task while slow stroking made him hard unbelievably quickly.

"I don't want to think that much, it makes me feverish and sick," Luffy said. His hand, squeezed tightly around Law's shaft, was sliding from base towards the tip so slowly that Law wanted to howl, feeling like he would die before the hand made it to the glans.

"Fuck, Luffy –" Had their roles been reversed, Law might have taken the chance to be a bit of a sadist, taking his sweet time and possibly starting that necessary conversion right now, making sure to keep his interlocutor too desperately hard to even keep track of the conversion. Law was pretty sure that Luffy didn't have tendencies like that, but even imagining it was enought to make him desperate. He wasn't ready to take that kind of treatment right now.

Luffy was looking at Law for a moment that felt like eternity, like contemplating what to do with him. That maddeningly slow hand had made about half of its way towards the tip.

"Hm, yeah," Luffy said. Law didn't have a clue if it was an answer to some question. He didn't care, either, because suddenly Luffy was kissing his stomach, moving downwards, and then Law was reminded of why it was such a brilliant idea to have a partner who had an oral fixation as hopeless as Luffy.

Law buried his hands into Luffy's wild hair, swearing silently that they _would_ have that crucial conversion at some point. Right now being sucked off was much more relevant. And after that he needed to reciprocate, of course. But he was going to get his answer.

Deep down, Law started to realize that when it came to their continuing struggle for power...

That was a battle he had lost ages ago.


	5. Epilogue

Nami was standing at the bow, watching carefully for the reefs and shouting directions. It might have been lucky that it was completely calm, forcing them to row; any more speed and zigzagging through the coral reefs would have been impossible.

"Have they managed to make up, what do you think?" Chopper was clutching the railing next to Nami, also watching the clear water.

"Hopefully," Nami said. 'Making up' felt like a pretty wrong expression for what Nami thought was going on, but she didn't feel like correcting Chopper's naive impressions. "I guess they're having a good time, if Luffy wanted to stay there longer."

"Yeah. That sounds sensible."

There was absolutely nothing sensible in this thing. Anything involving Luffy was never sensible.

"Two points starboard!" she called out. Their course soon changed a bit, allowing the ship to pass by a cluster of corals neatly.

The island was surrounded by a large circular formation of reefs, and after entering the ring water got deeper again. Nami commanded Sanji and Zoro to row faster, which they did. Arguing loudly all the time, of course.

Nami was dreaming of throwing those two idiots onto the island too, but that wouldn't have made any difference. They just didn't get along, no hidden motives or tension. A year on a desert island wouldn't change it.

The last few days had been bad. Nami had never noticed that Luffy would prevent Zoro and Sanji from fighting all the time, but that seemed to be the case. Luffy's absence had made the situation so much worse. Apparently Zoro acting as the vice-captain was something Sanji couldn't stand, and no one was powerful enough to stop the idiots.

Nami had to respect Luffy a bit. It would be a relief to have him back aboard the ship, even though she didn't quite know what to think of Law who'd come as a freebie. At least the curiosity was killing her, she wanted to know what had happened on the island. All of the crew shared that opinion, every one was on the deck waiting for them to reach land.

The island was approaching faster than it should have, at this rate the ship would probably shoot out of the water and fly to dry land. Zoro and Sanji were apparently having a rowing contest.

"Oi, slow down!"

Sanji immediately slowed down, cooing like an idiot that he'd of course do like Nami-swan told. Zoro was rowing faster for a moment, making the ship turn sideways and stop, swaying wildly.

"Just what the heck are you thinking?" Nami was raging. "We're going to fetch our captain –"

"Isn't he there?" Robin asked, pointing at something flying towards the ship pretty fast.

It was. Nami felt stupid, having actually imagined that Luffy would wait for them on the shore. Nope. Of course Luffy had tossed all of his things – and Law – on his shoulder and _catapulted_ himself towards the ship. She realized it had been Luffy's intention to hit the sail and use it to slide softly to the deck, one of Luffy's pastimes that regularly caused his crew to have startled heart attacks.

Now the sail had been taken in, so Luffy stretched out his arm, grabbing the yard and hanging from it for a while. He and his burden crashed down onto the deck as a messy heap, seeming to consist mostly of Law's insanely long limbs.

"We're back!" Luffy shouted, sitting upright. It seemed to escape him that he was sitting on Law – on pretty tender place, if Law's pained groan was any indication. Some of the male spectators were wincing sympathetically.

"Get off me," Law said.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you like me being on top of you." Luffy didn't have any intention to move, instead he was just watching around, greeting all of them with a radiant smile.

Too much information. _Way_ too much information, but Nami hadn't expected anything else, what with Luffy always blurting out all kinds of things. Apparently Law didn't appreciate the feature very much, growling and letting go of his sword to hide his face behind his palm.

"How cute," Robin said.

Strangely, it really was. Nami wished she had a camera so she could take a picture with which she could extort some money from Law. Luffy was always broke, so there was no use trying to extort him.

"That was some _super_ awesomely spent time, apparently." Franky lifted his thumb up.

It made everyone to really look at Luffy and Law, whose forced beach holiday seemed to have been... interesting. Even though Law was trying to hide behind his palm, a pale purple bruise was showing through his fingers. It was evident that the principle of idiot-logic had been applied, so they had started by kicking each other's ass – men! – and then moved on to other kind of activities. Never before had Nami seen necks with so many love bites.

Having seen them, Chopper screamed, starting to run around in complete state of alarm. "Call a doctor! What kind of pox is that? Is it contagious? Was there some weird bacteria on that island –"

Zoro made Chopper stop, reminding that Chopper _was_ a doctor.

"Oh, indeed!" Chopper was shaking his head, coming back to his senses. Then he proceeded by trying to attack the couple with blood tests to make a diagnosis.

"You don't need to bother, Chopper," Robin said. "We already know exactly what kind of bacteria are bothering them."

"It's love bug," Sanji announced.

"Really? I haven't heard of it. Is it dangerous?" Chopper asked.

"Extremely dangerous," said Usopp. "It causes irrational behavior and forces the victims to spend a lot of time in bed. The worst thing is that it can also be a serious risk to the mental health of those who are close to the infected. No one aboard this ship is safe!"

"Gaah! It sounds bad! I need to go and check my books –"

Nami gave a heavy sigh. "Don't tease Chopper so much. Chopper – they're just in love."

"We definitely are not!" Law grunted. It wasn't very convincing, since he hadn't bothered to really try and get Luffy to move.

"Yeah, we are." The corners of Luffy's mouth were reaching his ears, when he took Law's hand, finally tugging it off his face. Luffy started linking his fingers together with Law's in a very firm-looking, rubbery way. Just seeing it made Nami's joints ache.

Law sighed, but didn't argument. Actually he was smiling just a bit.

Nami felt like melting onto the deck. Franky was emotionally bawling his eyes out.

"Oh, it's _love_ ," Chopper said. "That's wonderful. I didn't know it leaves marks."

"It seems that we need to dignify your sweet coming together," Sanji said, smirking at Law. "Would I make a... sandwich cake?"

"Don't tease Traffy too much," Luffy said. "I don't want him running from me just because your food's awful. And hey!" He took one of the bundles he'd thrown onto the deck, tossing it to Sanji. "Make something good out of them."

Sanji took the bundle, which was full of some disgustingly blue fruits. If Luffy and Law hadn't been poisoned yet the fruits probably were edible, but Nami wished she hadn't seen the color. Sanji wasn't bothered by it, without hesitation taking a bite of one to test it. "These are quite sweet... maybe some kind of a cold dessert –"

"Try frying them," Law said.

" _I_ am the cook here, I don't need advice from some picky layman."

"Oi where is that Sea King?" Luffy asked. "There was supposed to be some meat here."

"It's of course in the kitchen. I've already set the table for breakf-"

Sanji didn't have time to finish his sentence before Luffy had jumped up and bolted towards the kitchen. He was dragging a protesting Law with him, so fast that Law's feet hardly had the time to touch the deck.

"Oo-kay..." Usopp said, rolling his eyes.

"It's going to be _super_ interesting," Franky said.

Robin gave a soft laughter.

"I think they seemed happy," Chopper said.

"So happy it was annoying," Sanji agreed.

"Suddenly I feel like composing a song about young love," Brook said. "How it all began. Its name will be 'An Ode for a Sandwich'."

"They'll appreciate it for sure," Zoro said dryly. But he was smiling, too.

Nami decided to learn 'An Ode for a Sandwich' by heart after it was composed. Just to remind the couple of some things every time they would get too annoying and cute. She could tell by the others' expressions that she wasn't the only one. Who knows, maybe Law would be ready to pay them just to make them shut up. Earning money was never a bad thing.

"Let's go to eat," she said. "Luffy's going to eat it all if we linger."

They started running towards the kitchen with light steps, in inexclicably good mood. Even Zoro and Sanji settled with one insult per idiot. It was clearly going to be a good day.

Or so they thought... until the love birds started to fight about topping first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I finished this. This was a fun project. Thank you for all comments and kudos. <3


End file.
